


Three's A Crowd

by csichick_2



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3822682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/pseuds/csichick_2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was bad enough Joe found out that Eddie was dating Iris.  But now he's dating Iris and Barry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three's A Crowd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheeana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheeana/gifts).



Barry thinks he’s being stealthy when he’s sneaking in and out of the house in the middle of the night – especially with his super speed – but Joe wasn’t born yesterday. He figures Barry will introduce him to the lucky girl – or guy – when he’s ready. For now Joe’s just glad that he seems to be moving on from Iris.

 

However, after a couple months Joe still has no idea who Barry is dating and it’s starting to drive him nuts. Barry’s a lot better at keeping secrets than Eddie and Iris ever were – probably from keeping his identity as The Flash concealed – so Joe hasn’t the slightest clue where to even start looking as he’s fairly certain its neither Caitlin nor Cisco. It isn’t until after they tell Eddie that Barry is the Flash that it all clicks – and Joe really wishes it hadn’t.

 

It was no secret that keeping Barry’s identity from Iris was causing strain between her and Eddie and that Barry has been trying to play peacekeeper. Joe’s also noticed that when Iris started staying over, Barry stopped sneaking in and out of the house. As much as he doesn’t want to think either of them is capable of it, it’s starting to look like Iris is cheating on Eddie with Barry. At least until Joe walks in on Barry talking Eddie down from the metaphorical ledge over the strife with Iris. He thankfully manages to retreat before either man notices him, which is good because he needs some time alone. And a lot of alcohol. Eddie dating Iris was bad enough, but Eddie dating both Iris _and_ Barry is going to take a lot of getting used to.

 

While at work, Joe tries to act as though he doesn’t know about this new development, but from the way that Eddie starts walking on eggshells around him, he knows he’s failing. Part of him wishes that Eddie would confront him so they put the issue to rest, but Joe’s more rational side knows it wouldn’t end well and could potentially result in both Iris and Barry refusing to speak to him. And until they figure out just what Wells is up to, that can’t happen.

 

Iris moves back in with Eddie – and Barry started sneaking around again – shortly after and since she hasn’t yelled at him for keeping her in the dark, Joe’s assuming that Eddie and Barry found a way to smooth things over without revealing Barry’s identity as The Flash. Joe knows that the more time passes, the harder it’s going to be to keep it from her, but he wants to keep his little girl safe as long as possible. Hell, he still tries to protect Barry, even though it’s mostly an exercise in futility.

 

What Joe wasn’t expecting was for Barry to come clean about his relationship with Iris and Eddie. He clearly expected a worse reaction by how timidly he brought it up and was almost relieved that Joe had already figured it out. Though while Joe was able to hide just how much the relationship still bothers him, he wasn’t able to do the same when it came to the reason Barry told him. That’s the moment Joe realizes that protecting Iris is almost as much of a lost cause as protecting Barry. He begrudgingly admits that Barry’s right about Iris needing to know he’s The Flash giving the new circumstances, but he’s adamant that she remain in the dark about Wells. Given what happened to the last person that investigated Wells, he doesn’t want the target already on Iris’s back to get any larger. Fortunately Barry agrees with him on that point and even more fortunately Eddie knows that Barry was going to talk to him. And now that Eddie knows that Joe knows, he can finally do what he’s been itching to do since he first found out.

 

Joe felt much better after threatening Eddie, even though its impact was lessened by the fact that he knew it was coming. Joe was also reassured by the fact that it’s pretty obvious that Eddie cares just as much about Barry as he does about Iris. Barry’s the most likely to get hurt if this goes sideways and Joe had been afraid that Iris had dragged Eddie into the whole thing. He’s still not happy about the whole thing, but he does have to accept that Barry and Iris are adults capable of making their own decisions. Iris does yell at him for keeping Barry’s identify from her, but it could have been a lot worse so Joe considers that a win.

 

The first good thing about the relationship being out in the open is that Barry stopped sneaking around. Unfortunately that also meant that sometimes Barry wasn’t home in the morning, something that was happening with increasing frequency. Barry’s already moved out once and Joe isn’t ready for it to happen again. The first time he still had Iris at home, but this time he truly will be an empty nester.

 

The second good thing was that it meant he saw more of Iris, though he irrationally refused to let anyone upstairs while all three of them were over. Barry and Iris probably weren’t that stupid, and Eddie definitely wasn’t – especially after that time he slipped and mentioned his sex life in front of Joe – but he still feels better having at least two of them in his line of sight at all times while they’re under his roof.

 

When the day does come that Barry does officially move in with Eddie and Iris, Joe finds that he’s a lot better with it than he was expecting. He in no way is looking forward to being alone in the house and despite all threats to the contrary, he isn’t appropriating either of their rooms for other purposes, just in case. He does feel a pang of sadness that he’ll probably never get to walk his little girl down the aisle – laws aren’t going to change _that_ much in their lifetime – but his kids are happy and that’s the important part.


End file.
